1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to computer systems and computer networks. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and system for marketing products based upon the detection and analysis of software and hardware components or peripherals present on a client computer.
2. Description of Related Art
With the proliferation of Internet-based technology and sales, it has become increasingly important that companies carefully target their sales and marketing efforts toward appropriate and receptive audiences. Although broadcast print, television, radio, and online banner advertisements retain some effectiveness in winning new customers through exposure to sheer numbers, marketing evolution is leading toward the provision of product information based upon the user's behavior and preferences.
Online profiling coupled with advances in database technology and knowledge base techniques enables increasingly targeted communications with consumers based both upon the stated preferences of those consumers and their prior purchasing behavior.
Certain methods exist today for marketing products to consumers based upon the stated preferences of the consumer. By way of example, a software manufacturer may elect to collect preferences of consumers and potential consumers through a survey. Such a survey can be conducted through the mail, by phone interview, and/or through a Web site. For purposes of clarity in this example, this disclosure will use the example of a survey posted on a Web site. The software manufacturer places a survey on the Web site which is accessed and completed by the consumer. The software manufacturer generally provides some sort of incentive for the consumer to complete the survey. Results of the survey may be collected, stored, aggregated, and analyzed for the purpose of determining the behavior of the consumer. Based on this information, the software manufacturer may choose to send a print advertisement, email communication, or other marketing communication to the consumer based upon the answers to the questions provided on the survey. The marketing communication may be general, based upon grouping the responses into demographic groups, or may be individualized utilizing a knowledge-based determination of the consumer's preferences based upon that consumer's responses.
In another example, a consumer may purchase a new hardware item for a computer system for which the manufacturer includes a registration information packet. This registration information packet could be in the form of a registration card, requesting from the user of the computer system such information as name, address, and phone number and containing a number of questions designed to give the manufacturer insight into the consumer's purchasing behavior, profession, income, and so on. Hardware manufacturers may include an electronic version of the registration packet or may link to the registration packet to the Internet, where the information can be collected immediately into some sort of database storage. When the user returns the registration information to the manufacturer, the manufacturer will then have a record of the manufacturer's product purchased by the user in addition to any of the supplementary information requested and/or supplied by the consumer. Based upon the knowledge of what product the user purchased, when the user purchased the item, and any combination of the supplementary information, the manufacturer can choose to target marketing communications to this user. This technique of collecting registration information is not restricted to hardware manufacturers. Indeed, this collection and use of registration data for marketing purposes is common in all types of business, including products such as software, consumer electronics, appliances, and many other products not related to computer systems.
Disadvantageously, in typical existing mechanisms for collecting, storing, and analyzing consumer preferences, the process of generating notifications of new and related products can be time-consuming and imprecise. These methods of collecting consumer stated preferences and past purchasing behavior rely upon many factors, for example: the consumer responding at all to marketing surveys and/or registration information requests; the consumer accurately answering questions about previously purchased products and answering other system configuration-based questions; properly interpreting the consumer's stated preferences or observed behavior into relevant marketing tactics. To deliver hard-copy product notifications such as brochures, consumers are generally grouped into segments to minimize the number of different targeted product advertisements generated. If a preferred communication is email, the manufacturer and/or distributor must customize the email communication and send it after the fact. It would be more desirable for communications regarding the new or related product to be based on firm, timely knowledge of a consumer's computing environment and delivered in a timely manner.
A method for scanning the user's computer for the presence of certain software programs for the purpose of providing updates to those software programs is disclosed in the application, "Automatic Updating of Diverse Software Products on Multiple Client Computer Systems", U.S. Ser. No. 08/660,488, filed on Jun. 7, 1996 which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. A similar method is currently in use at the Web site http://www.mcafee.com, the contents of which are incorporated by reference as of the filing date of the present patent application.
FIG. 1 shows a system 100 for updating diverse software products on a user computer system similar to the method of Ser. No. 08/660,488. System 100 comprises a plurality of vendor computer systems 102 communicatively coupled via the Internet 106 to a service provider computer system 106 containing an update information database 108, to which a user computer 110 containing an update application is also coupled.
Service provider computer system 106 comprises, among other elements described in Ser. No. 08/660,488, an update information database 108. Update information database 108 contains information, such as update name, version, location, installation instructions and the like, about products for which updates are available. Client computer 110 comprises an update application 112 for periodically communicating with the service provider computer system 106 for checking against the contents of the client computer 110 products specified in the update information database 108. If a product specified in the product information database 108 is identified on the client computer 110, the client computer is placed in communication with the relevant vendor computer system 102 to download or install the software update.
However, it would be desirable to provide a system for marketing software, hardware, and related products to users of computer systems based upon the user's current computing environment configuration.
It would be further desirable to provide a system for the marketing of products that are not yet detected on the user's computer, based upon a combination of the absence and/or presence of hardware peripherals and/or software on or connected to the client computer.
It would be further desirable to provide a system that is relevant and compelling to the individual user by ensuring that the related product information provided is based upon the individual user's computing environment configuration.